quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Contact the regional service manager for the manufacturer if you want to get results.
They don't like stuff like that at all and have a lot more leverage with the dealer than an individual.

Way back in 2003 I bought a new HD M/C. I had immediate issues with stalling from poor fuel delivery. Dealer told me I needed a factory carb jet kit to richen it up ,at a cost of $300+.

I politely told them I expected a factory vehicle to run without my paying $300. He disagreed! We went round and round for a few visits.

Then one night while working the Hwy Patrol job, I stop the Western US Rep for HD, for speeding. I bring him back to the car and while I'm writing him a WARNING for the speed, relate my unhappy story on my bike.

Next morning at 0900 a truck with trailer is in my yard and picks up the bike. Returned that evening with the carb set up correctly.

I would walk into the HD Dealer and the Owner I dealt with would immediately walk away. I got to know one of the Techs and he later told me the Rep really gave the owner a dressing down as there were other complaints. WHY he was headed in that night. LOL.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Its why I do 90% of normal service myself.

Fuck dealers, fuck cheating car mechs, and fuck used car salesmen.

Thought I'd refresh this thread rather than starting a new one.

My problem is I'm not very mechanical and, at 61, not planning on learning.

So, the other day I get new tires from Costco. They tell me I'll need to have an alignment too. But, they don't do alignments and give me a 15% coupon at a local place.

Drop off the car a hour or so ago at the local place, and they just called. The car's not done yet, but horror of horrors, they wanted to let me know about some maintenance that the car urgently needs: a brake flush and a transmission flush.

My first reaction is bullshit. But, how does one know?

I love those stealerships

You buy a car from them and it's the best vehicle ever produced but roll into the service bay and your nearly-brand-new car is suddenly the biggest piece of shit that was ever built and and needs extensive work.

Screw these places

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Its why I do 90% of normal service myself.

Fuck dealers, fuck cheating car mechs, and fuck used car salesmen.

Thought I'd refresh this thread rather than starting a new one.

My problem is I'm not very mechanical and, at 61, not planning on learning.

So, the other day I get new tires from Costco. They tell me I'll need to have an alignment too. But, they don't do alignments and give me a 15% coupon at a local place.

Drop off the car a hour or so ago at the local place, and they just called. The car's not done yet, but horror of horrors, they wanted to let me know about some maintenance that the car urgently needs: a brake flush and a transmission flush.

My first reaction is bullshit. But, how does one know?

Mileage. I do a brake flush myself every year but most people never flush their brakes. If 3-4 years old it is worth considering IMO. Flushing helps keep water out of your brake lines which causes a spongy pedal, loss of braking power, and internal rusting.

Transmission flush I do every 50K on my truck but again I do it myself. If you are near 100K miles it is worth it IMO. If you are way up in mileage, better to avoid the flush as sometimes it can dislodge sludge and cause problems.

I am considered an over-maintainer of my vehicles but I also put 300K+ miles on them and want them to last and be reliable. I have a small fleet of trucks for my business and have found that regular maintenance reduces the number of repairs required over time and miles.

They are a plague. I wish I could find a local mechanic or shop that I could trust.

I remember years ago there was a local guy I went to. He was so honest that if the job was minor he'd refuse payment, saying he hadn't earned it.

I almost begged him to take the money because I wanted him to do well, and I wanted to be able to go to someone I could trust.

Unfortunately, he closed down about a year later.

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:

Mileage. ...

Thanks. Good to know.

I suspect, however, that these recommendations were based on nothing more than my mileage (57,000 miles) rather than an inspection of the brake system or transmission.

When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

The wife got an oil change the other day, a real PITA, I said fine, let them do it. They call, mouse damage with the cabin air filter. I'm rolling my eyes but we've had mice in the cars from time to time. They put the old filter in a plastic bag, definitely very nasty. I suppose they could have a "throw-down" filter but I doubt it.

quote:

When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

FWIW, some of the cabin filters are buried and showing you would take half the labor rate.

I bought a Cert Pre-Owned vehicle in Aug of last year. 2018 with 24,000 miles. Take it in last month for a "Free" Oil change since it is a CPO and they tell me I need new tires and brakes for $1,200. I only drove it for 8,500 miles since buying it due to Covid. Get sales mgr on the phone and ask how do I go from all GREEN on the sheet from the inspection to now yellow and red. I took it to Big O and got the work done. Dealer tells me that by going to Big O that I won't get OEM parts and I told him the OEM parts SUCKED.

I once had a Ford dealer call me while I was getting an oil change and nothing else.

He said my ball joints were shot. I asked him if he'd even bothered looking at my odometer....silence.

I had 30K miles on the car, none of it off pavement.

We took car in for oil change at the dealer. They said needed a fresh air filter as well as a fresh cabin air filter. I said ok but they had to show me the old filter. Well guess what. They brought both in filters that were filthy. But could not explain why they were not from my vehicle because about two months prior I had personally changed and used off brand filters and not factory named filters. I proceeded to ripe the service dept a new back side the marched straight into the dealership owners office and started on him for allowing that type of customer rip off. Upon arrival at home and I checked and the filters that I had replaced were still installed and in no way near needing to be replaced. Have been back for two recalls and another oil change and they have not tried any funny stuff. Yet!!!.......................... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

FWIW, some of the cabin filters are buried and showing you would take half the labor rate.

How would a tech know it needed to be replaced if he hadn't pulled it out for inspection?

quote:

Originally posted by redlickranch:
I bought a Cert Pre-Owned vehicle in Aug of last year. 2018 with 24,000 miles. Take it in last month for a "Free" Oil change since it is a CPO and they tell me I need new tires and brakes for $1,200. I only drove it for 8,500 miles since buying it due to Covid. Get sales mgr on the phone and ask how do I go from all GREEN on the sheet from the inspection to now yellow and red. I took it to Big O and got the work done. Dealer tells me that by going to Big O that I won't get OEM parts and I told him the OEM parts SUCKED.

Someone tried this exact thing on my mom (who used to sell cars). She said, "great, I'll be right down to sign the work authorization." (I drove her)

Seems they did her a "big favor" by informing her after she signed, how they performed the work already to save her some time. Showed her the tires and brakes, new brake fluid, the whole shebang.

Then she showed them the warranty paperwork, from their dealership, for said car she purchased the weekend prior with a $0 detectable. And since she also now had the paperwork indicating the old items needed to be replaced...

As we were walking out I asked the guys if they'd figured or yet that my mom used to sell cars.

THEY were livid and tried to accuse my mother of tricking THEM. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

I politely asked him to show me that the fluid had actually been topped off. He marched over to my car and opened the hood. The look on his face when he realized that there was no washer fluid reservoir was priceless!

I don't know whether to laugh or get mad at that story.

That's one of my pet peeves. I don't mind paying a premium for car work but I want to make sure the work is actually needed in the first place and that it's actually done.

I'm living this experience right now... I used them for an oil change because I wanted them to look at the vehicle while still under powertrain warranty and find stuff to preemptively fix.

Of course, they find a bunch of stuff not under the powertrain warranty that they want to fix. I'm definitely having someone else do the work.

"Oh, sir, if you take it elsewhere, you won't get OEM parts."

"If the OEM shocks failed at 45k, I don't want them."

quote:

Originally posted by texassierra:
How would a tech know it needed to be replaced if he hadn't pulled it out for inspection?

They don't, they're trained to con and upsell, not be honest.

Had my annual A/C checkup done by a certain outfit around 7 years ago. The guy comes down from my attic and says my fan bearings are shot and the fan cage is going to come off at any minute. He then says that just by chance he has one in his van and it's only $600.00. I told him to get off my property and not come back.

6 years later I replaced the whole A/C as it was getting old and parts were hard to find. Just out of curiosity I asked the guy doing the install how the bearings were on the old fan. He said they were fine, in great shape for such an old unit.

quote:

Originally posted by texassierra:

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

FWIW, some of the cabin filters are buried and showing you would take half the labor rate.

How would a tech know it needed to be replaced if he hadn't pulled it out for inspection?

I was thinking this same thing.

I have to pass by 2 other Toyota dealers to get to the one I get my services done at because the other 2 never answer their phone in service or they want to put you on hold for 30+ min to make an oil change appointment. It doesn’t hurt there’s a bass pro shop across the street from the dealer I go to so it gives me something to do while I wait. I haven’t had any issues with them lying yet, but the car only has 11k miles on it so they haven’t really needed to do anything besides oil changes yet

quote:

Originally posted by texassierra:

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

When they tell me I need an air filter or a cabin air filter , I tell them " show me " .

FWIW, some of the cabin filters are buried and showing you would take half the labor rate.

How would a tech know it needed to be replaced if he hadn't pulled it out for inspection?

My last oil/filter change at the same dealership that I bought my 4Runner at, service advisor comes out holding my air filter and telling me that I need a new one. She gives me a price of just about $21 for the filter, and I tell her to go ahead and replace it. Paying for the bill at the end, there's $14.95 as "Labor" for replacing the air filter. I just about lost it. I explain to the service advisor that if I told her not to replace the air filter, that they were going to replace my old one and they would not charge me for labor to put my car back the way it was, but by replacing it with a new filter I was now "magically" responsible for labor? It took a few minutes to sink in, before I told her that would be the last $14.95 I would ever spend there, including my next vehicle.

So I have not gone back there. And just had my most recent oil change done at a different Toyota dealer. Service advisor comes out and tells me that 3 of the 4 bolts that are holding up the lower engine cover/tray (crappy design of these Gen5 4runners) are sheared off and the only way to repair them is to drill them out and rethread the holes, and do I want a quote for the work? I told her no, just the phone number for the zone manager from Toyota please. The only place I have EVER had an oil change done has been at the prior dealership where I bought the vehicle. So today has been a day for leaving a message for the Service Manager at the first dealership. Leaving for a beach trip Tuesday afternoon. Don't need the worry, really. Incompetence and no accountability I am sick of.

20 years with the same dealership, 4 new vehicles purchased through the same sales rep, including the two current vehicles purchased new within the past 5 years.

Last year, Vehicle #1 in for routine service. Service rep wanted alignment and brake job (front and rear), indicated 2mm on front pads, 3mm on rear pads. Always used the same alignment shop so I took it there to get the work done. Alignment was fine. Front and rear pads were fine. No work recommended.

Again, Vehicle #1 in for routine service. Service rep showed me intake air filter and cabin air filter, both dirty. I said OK, then when checking out I saw labor charges of $25 for EACH replaced filter (like they wouldn't have had to put the old ones back if I said "no").

Vehicle #2 in for routine service (oil, filter, tire rotation). Picked up the vehicle, tires had not been rotated. Pointed that out, service writer and the mechanic both argued with me, insisted the work had been done.

Again, Vehicle #2 in for service, needed a tail-light bulb. $55 labor charge to change out a bulb.

E-mail to the dealer, no response. E-mail to the manufacturer's national customer relations office, no response. So I called the nice sales rep and explained why we would no longer be doing business with that dealership. Next day the dealership owner called me, spent about an hour trying to grease me up, I just explained to him that there was nothing he could do, nothing he could give me, nothing he could promise, because the trust was gone so our business would be going elsewhere in the future.

About the only thing they didn't try was selling me new turn signal fluid.

I am at a point in my life that I can afford to buy anything that I need and nearly anything that I want. I refuse to do business with thieves.